Completing the legal framework, Vietnam maintains its position after upgrading its stock market

FTSE Russell announced that Vietnam's stock market was upgraded to a frontier emerging market on October 8. Around this event, Mr. Hoang Van Thu - Vice Chairman of the State Securities Commission recently had an interview with VNA reporters about the highlights of the newly implemented legal corridor and solutions to strengthen the position of the Vietnamese stock market after being upgraded.

Customers transact at Bao Viet Securities Company's headquarters in Hanoi . Photo: Tran Viet/VNA

Sir, what are the most prominent points in the new legal corridor, especially the guiding documents related to the Securities Law?

Law No. 56/2024/QH15 was passed by the National Assembly on November 29, 2024, effective from January 1, 2025 (Law No. 56), amending and supplementing a number of important laws; including amending and supplementing many laws under the management of the Ministry of Finance , including the Securities Law. Perhaps the most prominent point in this law is the three major policy groups that we focus on building, each group has its own characteristics.

This is a group of policies to improve the transparency and efficiency of securities offering activities, aiming to improve the quality of goods on the market, creating more goods and opportunities for public companies to enter the market soon. This is also one of the key solutions to increase the "appetite" of investors, especially in the context that the Vietnamese market has entered a higher stage of development after upgrading.

Along with that is the policy group to strengthen inspection and supervision activities to improve compliance and prevent fraudulent activities in the stock market. Strengthening discipline and transparency is a key factor to help maintain investor confidence, especially in the context of deep integration with international standards.

Policy group on removing bottlenecks and obstacles in the process of organizing the implementation of the Securities Law 2019 and Decree No. 155/2020/ND-CP detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Securities Law. These are the contents we pay special attention to in order to ensure consistency and synchronization in policy implementation, contributing to improving the feasibility and effectiveness of the entire legal system.

Among the documents guiding the implementation of Law No. 56/2024/QH15, Decree No. 245/2025/ND-CP of the Government amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 155/2020/ND-CP detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Securities Law is the most prominent point. This Decree focuses on regulations related to the offering and payment of securities transactions, in which the most breakthrough point is the connection of IPO activities with listing. This is an important step forward, clearly demonstrating the determination to reform the securities industry's institutions.

Could you elaborate on the new point “IPO linked to listing” that you just mentioned?

Previously, according to the old regulations, when a company completed its IPO, it would go through the listing procedure. This process took a lot of time, causing businesses and investors to wait, reducing liquidity in the market. Meanwhile, investors after the IPO often expected to be able to trade their shares on the stock exchange soon.

With this new regulation, we closely link the two activities of IPO and listing, significantly shortening the implementation time. Specifically, within 30 days, the results between IPO and listing are available, instead of 90 to 120 days as before. This is a great effort of the State Securities Commission, along with the coordination of units in the industry such as the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE) and the Vietnam Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation (VSDC).

This improvement helps businesses quickly list their shares for trading, creating liquidity and meeting investors' expectations. Especially for foreign investors, this is a factor they are very interested in in the context of Vietnam's upgrade. The new regulation is not only favorable for businesses with IPO and listing needs, but also helps the market have more quality goods, meeting international investment needs.

In addition to the highlight of IPOs associated with listings, can you share more about improvements in ensuring the quality of businesses participating in the market?

Another breakthrough in Decree No. 245/2025/ND-CP is more specific regulations on the records and responsibilities of organizations and individuals when participating in activities related to the stock market; notably, the regulations on public company registration. We aim to ensure that businesses have real quality - not only in terms of scale of operation but more importantly, compliance and transparency in governance and information disclosure.

When businesses meet this standard, they can soon enter the market, thereby having more channels to mobilize medium and long-term capital to serve economic development and implement growth strategies. This is also the major direction that we are consistent in perfecting the legal corridor for the Vietnamese stock market.

In the context of the upgraded market, what conditions are required to maintain the new ranking, sir?

In fact, all the recent legal improvements are aimed at not only upgrading but also maintaining and strengthening the new status. After being upgraded to “secondary emerging market” by FTSE Russell, the requirement is that we must continuously meet international criteria, ensuring a transparent, fair and effective investment environment.

One of the important requirements is to create favorable conditions for foreign investors. We have reviewed and adjusted many regulations to make them more suitable. For example, in the previous Decree No. 155/2020/ND-CP, the central clearing model was not clearly stated, which could easily lead to misunderstandings that it only applied to the derivatives market. Now, with Decree No. 245/2025/ND-CP, we have specifically regulated the application of the central clearing model to the underlying market, thereby ensuring consistency, transparency and compliance with international practices.

This model not only helps to manage risks better, but also meets the requirements of rating agencies and foreign investors, especially in assessing market capacity and investor protection. This is an important step for us to maintain and move towards higher ratings in the future.

Thank you very much!

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thi-truong-tien-te/hoan-thien-khung-phap-ly-viet-nam-giu-vi-the-sau-nang-hang-chung-khoan-20251013161415972.htm